“I’m not moving, Kara. Drop it. Oh look, here’s my ride.” Sarah bent down and pressed a kiss to Kara’s cheek. “I’ll call and text.”
“Me or Eli?”
Sarah didn’t answer. She got into the car that would take her home for the last time in months. She caught sight of Kara still standing by the door to theSauceras she left, and she knew, as stupid as it sounded, that Kara was right. But she wasn’t going to call Eli. There was no way Sarah had enough gumption to do that. Her life was good the way it was, and she would like to keep it that way. Eli had just been a fling, nothing more.
Chapter 18
Sarah grinned broadlyas she walked off stage. She was buzzing. Her body was full of adrenaline, moving would be the only way to get rid of it, and she would easily be up well into the wee hours of the morning. As her crew started packing everything up, Sarah grabbed a bottle of water and downed it as she fell into the soft plush couch in one of the backrooms.
Everyone moved around her and did everything they were supposed to do. But what was she supposed to do? She knew the rhythm of tour. This wasn’t the first one she had been on. She knew she always felt lost after a concert was over and done with, but this time felt so different. She wasn’t just lost from the concert, she was lost. She had no center, no balance, and no way to find it again either.
Kara had been right. Sarah glanced at the clock on the wall. It was midnight for her and past two in the morning for Eli.She couldn’t call, could she?Surely, she was done being up in the middle of the night for the cows by then. A month had passed with no contact.
“Sadie!”
Sarah swiveled her head toward the door.
“Great job tonight.”
“You too, kid.” Sarah swallowed. As soon as she was alone again, she wondered if she could call. If it had been a month and she hadn’t been able to get Eli out of her mind, maybe she did just need to call and see what all of it was about, perhaps find out if Eli felt the same or even anywhere near.
Sarah set an alarm on her phone for one hour later. She hoped she wasn’t wrong in assuming Eli was still getting up in the middle of the night. She had mentioned calving season could last for a while, and Sarah certainly didn’t want to wake her up if she was resting. God knew Eli needed all the rest she could get.
With the decision made, Sarah went to help where she could. She might have been the star, the name that drew everyone there, but she wasn’t above the grunt work, and she always made sure to help every time. She packed up instruments and coiled cables until they were neatly packed away in tubs.
Before she knew it, the alarm on her phone was going off and she’d almost forgotten why she set it. Staring down at the device, she begged off the project she’d been working on and slipped into the back room with the phone pressed to her ear as Eli’s phone rang and rang.
A sleepy hello greeted her, and instantly, Sarah’s lips curled into a smile. “Did I wake you?”
“Who is this?”
Laughing to herself, Sarah swallowed. “It’s Sarah.”
“Why on earth are you calling me at...three in the morning?” Eli sounded slightly more awake by that point.
“Uh...” Sarah rubbed a hand against the back of her head as she stared at the organized chaos around her. “I’m not exactly sure, truthfully.”
Eli grunted. “Sarah. It’s three in the morning.”
“Don’t you have to get up anyway?”
“What?”
“For the cows.”
Eli chuckled. “No. The last calf was born last week. I’m done with that. I can get actual sleep now—well, unless you call. Why are you calling again?”
“I don’t know.” Nerves sparked to life in her belly, something she had been missing all evening. “I’m sorry. I’ll let you go back to sleep.”
“No, don’t hang up. I’m awake now, so you better talk to me.”
Sarah’s lips parted in surprise. “About what?”
“Sarah, you called me. Didn’t you have something to say?”
She was at a complete loss for words. Sarah had no idea what to do or say or where to steer the conversation from there. She didn’t know what she’d been thinking when she’d made the call. To be fair, she probably wasn’t thinking. Her post-concert brain was always a bit muddled no matter how clear she thought it was. God, Kara was going to get a kick out of this.
“Sarah?”